(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
In 2025, even princesses have to turn to sponcon and promo codes to get by. By the end of Emily in Paris’ four-episode sojourn to Rome, I am willing to pledge my loyalty (and dollars) to Minnie Driver’s Princess Jane.
Given its use of real companies as clients of the luxury marketing agency, it can be hard to distinguish where the storyline starts and product placement or brand tie-ins end while watching Emily in Paris. It has been three years since the Darren Star series introduced me to the concept of the “McBaguette,” and it still pops into my head at all hours of the day with zero warning.
In the just-released new season, Emily in Paris steps away from the French capital and introduces several new characters, though none make an impact as enjoyable as the tact-free (and tacky) Principessa Gianna Grapezzi di Saturnia. Or Jane to her friends.
Jane and Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) go way back: theirs is a friendship built on wild night outs. About the hot Russian guys who once wanted to take them to a nightclub, Jane fondly reminisces: “I didn’t know if they wanted to shoot us or screw us, but I was willing to take a chance.”
Theirs doesn’t seem like a transactional friendship—until the currently hard-up princess (she describes herself as “palazzo poor”) promises to introduce Sylvie to all the big Italian brands “for a fee.” The three little words quickly become Jane’s catchphrase, though she does make good on her promise.
Driver deftly walks the line between straight-faced condescension to Emily and then mugging it up to the camera whenever plugging a product. “They’ll buy anything I tell them to,” Jane tells Emily. She’s not wrong.
Driver is having a great end to the year, recently receiving raves for her starring role in Every Brilliant Thing on the West End in London; in January, she will appear in the Netflix crime drama Run Away.
But first, she is dialing up the eye-popping fashion, fistfuls of jewelry, and endless name-dropping on Emily in Paris. Driver looks like she is having a ball playing a princess with zero filter. While some of the other storylines circle the same tired drain, Jane is a welcome breath of fresh air.
“I mean, they’re obsessed with me. My Royal Subjects, that’s my stan army,” Jane tells Emily. You can consider me a card-carrying member, and I’ll let you know why.
It might be considered gauche, but Jane’s insistence on getting a consulting fee for introducing Agence Gateau to huge brands like Fendi is the kind of energy we should channel. At least she knows her worth. Thankfully, “Leaning In” or “Girlboss” passé slogans are never suggested, but maybe “for a fee” should get its own hashtag.
Now, the step-and-repeat red carpet at Jane’s palazzo event in honor of Sylvie is definitely slipping into cringe, but even princesses have to pay their bills. She is so unapologetic in the overt hawking of Italian products that I can’t help but find it endearing in its tackiness. She might as well be shooting a commercial during her balcony toast: “Here’s to you, Sylvie, and most of all to Peroni. Mmm. Delicious.” (I wouldn’t be lying if I said I now want an ice-cold Peroni)
Emily’s co-worker, Julien (Samuel Arnold), sneers at Jane’s extreme “label whore” behavior, calling her Eva Peroni (the balcony plus this nickname gets an A+). Still, Driver makes the whole thing as easy breezy as the Dolce & Gabbana Summer ’16 “Italia is Love” frock. In a sea of overtly dazzling fashion, Jane pulls all focus. Even in the midst of Mindy’s (Ashley Park) “Espresso” cover, I can’t look away from Jane bopping away without being weighed down by seemingly every piece of gold jewelry in her possession.
Something that does come for free: relationship advice. Some of it is wanted, some not. When Jane (wearing a coat that looks like multiple mopheads have been sacrificed) first finds out that Sylvie is having an affair, she isn’t judgmental. Instead, she tells her friend that she picked a great city for a tryst: “Have fun Saturday night, confess Sunday, clean slate.”
Unfortunately, Emily doesn’t get the same devil-may-care attitude about her ongoing romance with Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini). “He’s a player. He’s always speeding around on his Vespa with another leggy beauty,” says Jane. Exaggerated gestures aimed directly at Emily emphasize Jane’s confusion about why Marcello is with her: “What is it about you?”
Jane doesn’t even think she is being mean when she asks if it’s because Emily’s family is rich. Nope, this is what she considers to be looking out for the American. “Well, my husband thought he married me for my money, and I thought I married him for his. We were both fooled,” she says. “Girls like us can’t be too careful.” I mean, Emily’s track record with the men in her life since the first season is all over the place, so Jane isn’t wrong to see the red flags.
It’s also better that Jane’s husband, Vittorio Leonardo Grapezzi di Saturnia, remains offscreen. No man could do her justice. If you told me she didn’t even have a husband and that this was a whole Talented Mr. Ripley ploy, I wouldn’t be surprised. Rather than get an Architectural Digest-style tour of her opulent home, experiencing Driver’s impression of being like a squirrel living in the upper floors of the palazzo (while the rest is used as a luxury Airbnb) is perfection.
The final crowning achievement in this mini-arc is Jane showing off her natural rapport with her Royal Subjects: “Come in close for a royal secret. This look flops if the skin doesn’t pop. That’s why I use Collagen Forever, the amazing drinkable collagen supplement that activates your body to produce collagen forever. Use code ‘Princess20′ for 20 percent off.”
Yes, I did check whether this is a real brand (it isn’t) because her sales pitch sounds like a podcast ad read. Emily in Paris doesn’t often hit this level of tongue-in-cheek, and it is down to Driver’s delivery that the joke lands.
Jane’s constant confusion at anything Emily tells her (in this case, the idea of quiet luxury and only sending out one post at the end of the night) ensures Jane will stay on my mind long after the team packs up their Rome office and heads back to Paris. Here’s hoping Jane makes it to France—for a fee, of course!
